Shohei Ohtani injury saga: What’s the latest, and where do the Dodgers go from here?
When Shohei Ohtani arrived stateside in 2018 after a legendary, half-decade run as a two-way player in Japan’s NPB, his ambition of hitting and pitching simultaneously in MLB invited two central questions.
The first involved his raw ability: Was Ohtani good enough to do both at the highest level the sport has to offer? Four unanimous MVP awards and a treasure trove of previously unfathomable on-field achievements later, Ohtani has answered that question with an emphatic yes.
The second question centered on a more practical concern: Could his body handle the physical toll of regularly pitching and hitting in the major leagues? The answer to that question, for the most part, has been no.
While Ohtani has amassed more than enough playing time to rack up individual accolades and a couple of championships, it’s impossible to ignore how often his superhuman pursuits have been interrupted by the sobering reality of being human. Just twice — in 2021 and 2022 — has Ohtani completed a full season of playing both ways fully healthy. Two elbow surgeries — one during his rookie season in 2018 and another at the conclusion of his final season as an Angel in 2023 — have limited his availability on the mound to varying degrees in every other year.
But this year, with Ohtani’s second elbow procedure fading in the rearview mirror, there was hope that the singular superstar could sustain his full-fledged two-way responsibilities for the entirety of a campaign for a third time. He reminded us in October — much to the Milwaukee Brewers’ dismay — what he could achieve at the peak of his powers. Entering his third season in Dodger blue, Ohtani seemed eager to deliver the goods across a full season in support of Los Angeles’ attempt to three-peat. His unparalleled ambition was perhaps best exemplified by the preseason whispers that he had his sights set on the Cy Young Award, a not-so-humble sidequest to his everyday mission as the Dodgers’ leadoff hitter.
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For two months, Ohtani seemed on track to once again do the impossible. Across his first 10 starts, he posted a preposterous 0.74 ERA in 61 innings while striking out 67 batters and allowing just 30 hits. His OPS hovered around .900, a bit below the standard he’d set for himself but still among the best marks in the league. Ohtani’s chances of keeping pace in a crowded NL Cy Young field were cloudy based on his limited workload relative to his competition, but in the early going, he was well on his way to a fifth MVP award in the past six seasons and somehow living up to the outlandish preseason expectations.
But then June brought the first of a series of physical setbacks that would derail not just Ohtani’s Cy Young push but his MVP hopes as well.
It began in his 11th start of the season on June 10 in Pittsburgh. Ohtani surrendered a season-high four runs across 6 ⅔ innings while dealing with a blister on his right middle finger that he downplayed postgame. The more troubling sequence occurred the next day, when Ohtani experienced pain in his left knee on a stolen base attempt, enough to prompt Roberts to pinch-hit for him in the seventh inning of a one-run game. This was the same knee on which Ohtani required surgery toward the end of his second season with the Angels in 2019. No matter. After sitting out one game, Ohtani returned to the lineup the next day and hit a leadoff homer, quieting concerns that he’d suffered a significant injury.
But while Ohtani continued to mash through June (1.091 OPS), his effectiveness on the mound wavered, at least compared to his early-season excellence. The Rays tagged him for four runs on June 17. Minnesota scored three against him on June 24. Then, the day before his scheduled start against the A’s on July 1, the Dodgers announced that Ohtani would instead start a couple days later against the Padres. He delivered a quality start against San Diego, throwing a season-high 110 pitches, but was pinch-hit for later in the game after he felt some tightness in his right biceps. When his next turn through the Dodgers’ rotation arrived, Ohtani was scratched. That announcement came with the news that Ohtani would skip the All-Star Game in Philadelphia, an event he headlined the previous five seasons.
“The goal is to be able to throw according to a regular schedule [in the second half],” Ohtani said through interpreter Will Ireton after his scratched outing. “Although I could’ve started, it would’ve still been pushing the envelope a little bit.”
The plan then was for Ohtani to get treatment on his left knee and use the break to rest, with hopes of working toward a return to the mound. “My every intention is to use the off-days to make sure I’m in a good place to be able to be in the rotation,” he said.
But when his first scheduled start of the second half arrived the following week, Ohtani was scratched again, with Roberts declaring a more prolonged pause in his pitching on July 19.
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At that point, it was difficult to decipher whether the delays in Ohtani’s return to the mound were more reflective of his physical ailments or the Dodgers’ preference to be patient given their circumstances. Perhaps the aggressive acquisition of Tarik Skubal at the trade deadline was an exorbitant insurance policy in case Ohtani’s availability to pitch was indeed in jeopardy.
Or maybe the Dodgers were just doing what they always do, supercharging their roster when the opportunity arose, with hopes that Skubal and Ohtani could both star on their pitching staff come October. Plus, with proven October titan Yoshinobu Yamamoto cruising and Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow close to coming off the injured list, the Dodgers had no reason to rush Ohtani back if he wasn’t completely ready.
With a comfortable lead atop the NL West, optimism remained that Ohtani had enough time to ramp back up to two-way status before the postseason. He threw a 30-pitch live bullpen session on Aug. 22, setting the stage for a possible return to action in Detroit the following week. But after Ohtani threw an abbreviated bullpen at Comerica Park on Aug. 28, Roberts ruled out the possibility of him pitching that Sunday as previously suggested, opting to reassess matters upon returning to Los Angeles.
That weekend in Detroit, Roberts was not subtle in communicating the organization’s preference to prioritize getting Ohtani back on track with the bat, rather than continuing to push through his ailments in hopes he could contribute on the mound.
“Obviously, where we’re at right now with the pitching, the starting pitching certainly being a strength, his value offensively is hugely important,” Roberts said. “And so we can’t compromise that in any fashion. So if throwing potentially cuts into that, that’s not worth the squeeze. [We’re] very bullish on making sure we don’t compromise the hitting.”
By then, however, the hitting already appeared compromised.
As Ohtani the pitcher worked on his buildup behind the scenes, Ohtani the slugger seemed to become less dangerous. After homering twice against the Cubs on Aug. 5, Ohtani went deep only four more times over 22 games to finish the month, and three of those came at Coors Field. His .795 OPS in August wasn’t so bad by mere mortal standards, but it was his worst mark in a calendar month since April 2022 (.722). And while Ohtani was far from the biggest culprit, his unusual inconsistency atop L.A.’s lineup was a glaring shortcoming amid an offense that was slumping across the board. The Dodgers hit .241/.311/.378 in August, amounting to a .689 OPS that ranked 21st in MLB.
Ohtani’s struggles with the bat worsened as August came to a close. He went 1-for-13 with five strikeouts in Detroit. Back home against the Cardinals, he went 0-for-4 with four strikeouts on Sept. 2 — his first four-strikeout showing since NLDS Game 1 against the Phillies last fall. With that, Roberts had seen enough; Ohtani needed to sit, to reset, to recuperate. A trip to the injured list was avoided (because of his status as a two-way player, Ohtani would need to be placed on the 15-day IL rather than the 10-day like most position players), but Ohtani sat out the next four games, marking an unprecedented pause in his time with the Dodgers.
He returned to the leadoff spot Monday against Cincinnati, but his 0-for-3 was hardly the headline. Speaking to reporters postgame for the first time since Aug. 17, Ohtani confirmed what Roberts had hinted at over the weekend: He is no longer working toward a return to pitching in 2026.
“Most likely, no,” Ohtani said through Ireton. “I’m going to be focusing on hitting moving forward.”
“I think the thing that I was more focused on was making sure that the pitching wouldn’t cause the worst scenario, which was for me to not be able to play at all,” he added, echoing the sentiment Roberts had repeatedly offered. “I’m confident that my overall performance should be better moving forward.”
While both Ohtani and his manager indicated that he’s still dealing with left knee, right biceps and neck discomfort — and he has been out of the lineup for two more games since they spoke on Monday — Roberts expressed hope that removing pitching from the equation will increase the chances that Ohtani the hitter remains available and impactful.
“That’s part of the thought, to sort of take the pitching off of his plate and really try to let him lock in on being a hitter and get on track,” Roberts said. “Because the last couple of weeks, he just hasn’t been himself in the box.”
With that brief and long-awaited media session, the saga of Ohtani’s disjointed effort to resume his two-way heroics received a much-needed dose of clarity and, in a way, closure. The will-he-or-won’t-he pitching inquiries can, it seems, be postponed until 2027. At that point, we can restore the pent-up excitement about seeing him back on the bump, and we should contemplate the broader viability of Ohtani remaining a two-way player for the entirety of his Dodgers contract, which stretches through the 2033 season.
But for now, Ohtani’s acceptance of his various ailments and the increasingly high-stakes state of affairs with October fast approaching raises an entirely new series of questions involving his season and the Dodgers’ push for a third consecutive championship. Can he battle through his injuries to rediscover his elite hitting form in time for the postseason? If his struggles continue, will Roberts consider moving him out of the leadoff spot for the first time this season? Will Ohtani’s absence in the rotation be felt, or will the healthy aces step up as hoped? What if he reinjures his knee more seriously? Or, if he’s feeling good — and sorry, we have to ask — will Ohtani try to make a miraculous push to be available on the mound for an inning late in October? And on and on.
How will Ohtani answer those questions in the coming weeks?
As has always been the case with him, we’ll all be waiting and watching to find out.